Since I have very little previous experience with microcontrollers, I'm looking for an advice on which microcontroller to get that will be appropriate for Holter monitoring (ECG signals from external circuit with 3 channels)? It should be as small as possible with low battery usage (because of for 24 h+ monitoring) and good enough performance for ECG application. As far as connectivity goes, I will use Bluetooth and maybe Wi-Fi, but Bluetooth is crucial for sure. Are there any suitable microcontrollers with Bluetooth integrated or would I have to pair it with external BT module? If that is the case, which combination would you then recommend to me?
You can get Bluetooth modules with a UART interface which will be compatible with most modern microcontrollers.
Ive been using the HC-05 modules which are really easy to get working but they consume 4mA on standby (20mA transmit/receive).
Look up the HM-10 module for a starting point, I've read that they consume far less power and run on the new 4.0 standard. You can get some with 0.1" headers so they will slot right into a breadboard.
Not too sure about your microcontroller but most smaller PIC's and ATMEL's will consume a low current depending on how fast you clock them.
Most come with sleep mode too.. Depends if you can afford to power down your microcontroller periodically?